Today, 22nd of April is Earth day. To support environmental initiatives, DFGE is happy to extend the fruitful partnership with CDP for the next three years.

A partnership aiming at helping respondent companies

DFGE has been an official Silver Climate Change Consultancy Partner of CDP since 2014, to support companies responding to CDP. DFGE and CDP have now signed a 3-year partnership contract to extend this collaboration. DFGE believes that CDP is one of the key drivers in climate change reporting, and thinks that the initiative will keep growing as the topic keeps becoming more important for stakeholders.

Indeed, climate has been gaining momentum over the past few years, to the point that the UNFCCC countries opted for the Paris Agreement in 2015.

To help companies take part in CDP, DFGE supports companies by providing official response checks following CDP methodology. DFGE can help companies formalize an environmental management system and can assess the carbon footprint of any organization. DFGE’s purpose is to support respondent companies in the best possible way.

DFGE is also happy to help extend CDP programs, by raising awareness on them and providing technical feedback. In exchange, CDP provides an in-depth training on CDP methodology. DFGE and CDP collaboration also features co-hosting of webinars, participation to events, promotion of partners on communication and more.

For instance, DFGE took part to the CDP DACH Spring event. In this sense, DFGE was aware of new methodology changes, could support CDP and could meet CDP respondents. DFGE had the opportunity to take part in a workshop called “Market Place”.

The Market place aims at empowering attendants with quick knowledge. There were 4 sessions of 15 minutes, so participants could cover 4 topics among the 12 workshops.

DFGE 15-minute session focuses on the link between CDP and SDGs. By taking part in CDP, organizations already help addressing the SDGs, the new 2030 sustainability agenda powered by the United Nations. DFGE also gave tips and recommendations to companies to tackle such objectives and show how they are already part and parcel of the companies’ sustainability strategies and actions.

Background story: The majority of our blog posts deals with CSR topics; we write about the latest developments in this field and try to relate it to a company’s daily business. Our background stories have a different perspective: Here, we explain trends, scientific background and societal implications of corporate sustainability – sometimes with a personal touch.

What do the cities of Hamburg (Germany) and Lagos (Nigeria) have in common? Not much, one might think. However, they share a property which makes them both vulnerable to climate change: they both lie at a height of only five meters above sea level – and the sea level rises every year.

A natural phenomenon which has been increasing in the 20th centuryData from sediments, tide gauge records and satellites show that sea levels changed only little between 0 AD and 1900, but began rising in the 20th century[1]. Two main mechanisms have been identified to be responsible for this, both related to climate change:

Water expands along with temperature; as global temperatures are rising, the water body’s volume is expanding

Warmer temperatures initiate a thawing of the polar ice caps. The resulting melting water leads to higher sea levels

The average change rate was at about 1.7 mm per year in the last century, which amounts to a total difference of about 19 cm over the last 110 years. 19 cm – this is far from the five meters of Hamburg and Lagos, so no reason to worry? Well, far from it, unfortunately.

At the one hand, the increase rate is accelerating: between 1993 and 2010, it amounted already to 3.2 mm per year[2], which is a drastic increase compared to the values for the preceding century. Researchers from several universities just published a study stating that the 20th-century rise happened faster than any of the previous 27 centuries[3].

And secondly, we haven’t talked about tipping points yet.

Tipping points: when changes become rapid

Tipping points are maybe the biggest headache of climate scientists. This notion refers to a moment when the earth’s entire climatic system changes rapidly and irreversibly into a new state, triggered by a preceding constant change of an input variable (like the atmospheric CO2 level). Regarding sea level rise, such a tipping point might be reached once the Greenland ice sheet begins to thaw – research suggests that this could happen already with a global warming of about 1.6 degrees[4]. Greenland’s ice sheet is 3.000 meters thick; its melting would contribute to a total sea level rise of about 6 meters[5], with the well-known consequences not only for Hamburg or Lagos: About 10% of the world population live in low-lying areas, and 30% live in areas impacted by extreme flooding events. The majority of megacities is located in coastal areas[6].

On a human timescale, processes like the Greenland melting would still happen slowly, taking several thousand years. But if greenhouse gas emissions are not effectively limited, these processes are likely to accelerate. Due to a combination with increasingly frequent and severe rainstorms (also a consequence of climate change) huge investments into coastal protection will be necessary in the coming decades[7].

Thus, sea level rise does not just concern some lost islands somewhere in the ocean – it concerns the livelihoods of a substantial part of the world population. A worldwide and concerted action to mitigate climate change is crucial, if we want to ensure that our coastal areas can stay habitable for future generations. The UN Climate Conference in Paris 2015 has shown that a lot of governmental and private actors are willing to combat climate change – now the decisions made have to come into action.

DFGE can assist also your organization in quantifying your carbon emissions, and to establish a strategy to tackle them. Contact us at info@dfge.de or +49.8192.99733-20 for more information.

The 2016 World Economic Forum annual meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland, from the 20th to the 23rd of January and gathered decision-makers from all over the world. It enables to raise awareness among the most influential people of the world: indeed, it provides an opportunity to gain momentum and concretize current projects like the Paris Agreement from COP21 or the Sustainable Development Goals.

A new era: the fourth revolution

One of the key focus was the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a concept developed by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, stating that this revolution is characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological world. Technology can thus be a way to address current challenges.

Current challenges are deeply intertwined with sustainability agendas

Food security. By 2050, the world must feed 9 billion people.

Inclusive growth. Our current social, political and economic systems are exacerbating inequalities, rather than reducing them, which can lead to anger and xenophobic attitude

International Labor Organization estimates that more than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008.

Climate change. 2015 was the Earth’s warmest year in recorded history.

Gender equality. The gender gap has reduced, however some efforts still need to be done, including in remuneration.

The number of inhabits is rise to 9.7 billion in 2050 with 2 billion aged over 60.

200 million SMEs don’t have access to formal financial services.

Focus in long-term projects will be beneficial.

How can your company contribute?

Any organization can contribute to address these global challenges, especially

Climate change. Organizations can assess their carbon footprint to identify the sources of emissions, set reduction targets accordingly, and implement actions to reduce them like switching to energy-efficient equipment, fostering car-sharing and public transportation among employees, among others

Gender equality. To tackle gender equality, companies can issue non-discrimination rules, raise awareness among the decision-makers, and provide the same compensation and benefits on the basis of past experiences and skills, or implement a whistle-blowing system to report such cases and deal with them

Inclusive growth/employment. Companies play a key role in employing people. A solution for inclusive growth can be to implement shared value initiatives by launching a new product meeting social needs, or redefining productivity the value chain while focusing on the social and environmental constrains in the supply chain, or create a local competitive cluster

Healthcare. Companies can help foster employees’ health and well-being by focusing on ergonomics in the workplace, preventing stress, preventing occupational diseases.

If you are an organization aiming at improving sustainability and planning to participate in sustainability reporting, or looking for support when calculating your carbon footprint – contact us to learn more about our services via info@dfge.de

The DFGE– Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy provides consulting and auditing services to realize a Green Vision integrated in corporate business processes. Strategic advice on topics like technology, energy and emissions is expanded to business related and socio-economic aspects. Services range from consultancy in developing and managing customized analysis for testified Carbon footprint to validation of analysis methods and results for sustainable accuracy. As independent Institute DFGE’s work is based on advanced scientific and research methods and institutionalized standards. More at http://www.dfge.de